An Easter Miracle
by EragonJediGirl357
Summary: My Easter contribution. Oneshot set after The Winter Soldier. Steve's been doing his best to help Bucky, and his friend's memories have been coming back piece by piece. What surprises await them on Easter morning? Not intended as any kind of religious statement. Can be taken as bromance or romance, it's up to you! K plus for some mild cursing.


Steve had found Bucky on April 5th.

Natasha had convinced Tony to help in the hunt for Bucky, and he had done so by connecting to every camera that he could and running a facial-recognition program, a trick he'd picked up from SHIELD. Less than 24 hours later, Bucky's face was matched to a feed from a security camera at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum.

Steve was at the museum 5 minutes after he got Tony's call.

He'd taken a car rather than his motorcycle, wanting to be able to take Bucky home safely. He needed to regain his old friend's trust, and he doubted that it would help if he drove Bucky home on the back of a small vehicle built for one that offered none of the protection of a car. Steve was confident in his abilities, but there was no reason to take stupid risks—or frighten Bucky any more than he must be already.

He parked across the street from the Smithsonian and waited for Bucky to come out. Steve spotted him easily, despite the baseball cap pulled low to conceal his identity. He quietly tailed Bucky at a distance until the other man turned down an empty street. Not daring to go too fast and risk scaring him off, Steve pulled up beside his old friend and rolled the window down.

Steve could tell that Bucky had regained more of his memory. He seemed to be torn between fear and a strong desire to get in the car. It took a few minutes of gentle coaxing, from Steve, but eventually Bucky climbed into the passenger seat and Steve headed for his safe house. They spoke quietly on the way, Bucky telling Steve what he remembered and Steve trying to help fill in the gaps. A lot was still missing, and it was clear even from this conversation that his time as The Winter Soldier had changed him forever, but he remembered pieces and wanted to remember more. He would never be the same, but he could still be Bucky again.

It had been two weeks since then. Every day Bucky remembered more, but the road was not easy. Bucky's screams woke Steve so often that after the first few days, he moved into Bucky's room so that he could more quickly wake his friend from nightmares or be there when Bucky woke, wide-eyed and sweating. Sometimes Bucky lashed out at Steve before realizing who he was, but luckily, Steve was never hurt. Other times Bucky recognized him right away and immediately hugged Steve, crying as Steve did his best to comfort the former Winter Soldier. More than once, they fell asleep in each other's arms after one of Bucky's nightmares. Even though it was clear that he had a long way to go, Bucky was healing.

Steve hadn't left the house since bringing Bucky home. Sam brought Steve groceries and anything else he needed, and Steve watched Sunday Mass on EWTN. Bucky had been surprised to see that people actually broadcast it, but he'd joined Steve on the couch to watch. The familiarity of sitting beside Steve during Mass calmed him. At least there was one thing that hadn't changed much.

Steve was the first one awake on Easter Sunday. He and Bucky had watched an Easter Vigil Mass the evening before, electing to sleep in Easter morning. Steve was in the kitchen, making chocolate chip pancakes—Bucky's childhood favorite that his mom only made on special days—and waiting for his friend to wake up. There was a small glass bowl of chocolate eggs on the table, another Easter surprise Steve had planned for Bucky. He smiled at the memory of running around Bucky's back yard, trying to find the hidden eggs before Bucky did.

_"And Bucky Barnes, the reigning egg hunt champion for three years running, is defeated by underdog Steve Rogers!"  
"Are you always this melodramatic when you loose, Bucky?"  
"Punk."  
"Jerk."  
"... Just don't hog the eggs."  
"After you won three years in a row and always made sure that we got the same number of eggs? Of course I'm not gonna hog them. Here, let's count them out."  
"Crap, it's an odd number this year."  
"... Bite one in half?"  
"Deal."_

Steve was pulled back to the present by the sound of Bucky's door opening. He had slept peacefully last night, for which Steve was incredibly grateful. Goodness knew that after everything he'd been through, Bucky deserved a good night's sleep. Steve smiled as Bucky walked into the kitchen.

"Good morning, Bucky. Happy Easter!"

Bucky sniffed the air. "Are you making chocolate chip pancakes?"

"Yep," Steve said as he slid the last batch onto the plate, resulting in a stack of pancakes too high for even Steve to eat by himself. "I think some of them may be a little burned, I don't exactly have a lot of practice—"

"Steve," Bucky cut him off.

Steve looked up, worried. "What is it?"

"I remember."

Steve blinked. "Remember what?" His mom's chocolate chip pancakes? The egg hunts? The fact that Steve had never quite gotten the hang of cooking?

"Everything."

Steve stared back at his friend, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing. Could it be?

Bucky smiled slowly, nervously. "I remember everything. No holes anymore. No gaps. Just my memories. All of them!" His eyes were bright, brighter than Steve had seen them since before the war.

Steve dropped the spatula, shoved a chair out of the way, and wrapped Bucky in a bone-crushing hug.

"Whoa, Steve, easy..." Bucky stopped when he realized that Steve was crying. Steve felt Bucky's arms close tightly around him, one warm and one cold. "It's okay, Stevie," he said softly. "It's okay."

"You're back..." Steve was sobbing. "Y-you're back..."

"Yeah, buddy," Bucky whispered. "I'm here. I'm okay."

Steve pulled back enough to look at Bucky, smiling as tears of joy rolled down his cheeks. "It's an Easter miracle."

Bucky smiled back. "Guess so."

"I missed you."

"Me too."

Both men laughed. They knew that it was not over. There was still healing to be done, still obstacles in their way... but for today, this would be enough.

"Come on, let's eat before the pancakes get cold."

Steve laughed and ruffled Bucky's long hair before grabbing a plate for each of them and dividing the overlarge stack of pancakes. The resultant piles would have still been rather big for any normal person, but for two super soldiers, it was just right.

Bucky took a bite and closed his eyes. "Mmm... just like my mom's..." he looked up at Steve with a mischievous spark in is eyes. "Only more burnt."

"Hey, don't say you weren't warned!"

They managed to keep semi-serious faces for about three seconds before they both burst out laughing, Bucky covering his mouth with his metal hand to avoid spewing pancake everywhere.

Bucky finally managed to get ahold of himself as his eyes fell on the bowl of chocolate eggs. Without a word, he poured them out onto the table and began sorting them.

"What are you doing?" Steve asked.

Bucky said nothing, silently sorting the eggs into two piles just as they had done on Bucky's back porch more times that Steve could count. He paused as his hand rested on the last egg.

"Shit."

"What's wrong?"

"There's an odd number."

Steve smiled. "Bite one in half?"

Bucky grinned. "Deal."


End file.
